Volleyball Headline

The
No. 6/4 Florida volleyball team used a dominant blocking performance,
out-blocking Bowling Green 12.0-3.0, in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-16) sweep of
the Falcons on Friday in the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational at the
Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The
Gators (4-0), who swept Albany on Friday afternoon, recorded their most blocks
since also recording 12 in a 3-0 win against FIU in the NCAA Second Round on
Dec. 4, 2009. Florida has averaged 11.1 blocks per match in each of its four
contests this season, charting double-figure blocks in three of those outings.

UF
recorded a season-high .431 hitting efficiency in the match and limited Bowling
Green to a -.012 offensive efficiency. It was the first time the Gators held an
opponent to a negative hitting percentage since limiting Alabama to a -.011
efficiency on Nov. 23, 2008.

“Some
of the markers for a good defensive team are its hitting efficiency of the
opponent and the number of blocks recorded,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said.
“The match ended with Bowling Green hitting negative and us recording 12
blocks. It starts with the serve. We had aggressive serving and that leads to
some easier points to be scored. We played a young team is just going to get
better and better, but it’s tough for them to play against Florida at home, in
the O’Connell Center.”

Junior
outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and senior outside
hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) each recorded eight kills on
.375 hitting percentages. Rivers added eight digs and three blocks, while
Jaeckel tallied a match-high 12.0 total points. Five Gators charted five or
more kills in the match for Florida, which continued its theme of a balanced
offensive performance.

Sophomore
right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) recorded five kills on six
swings with no errors for a .833 hitting efficiency with a career-high six
blocks. Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) notched
five kills on .308 hitting with a match-high 15 assists and six digs.

In
the first set, Bowling Green jumped out to a fast 3-0 lead behind a Paige
Penrod kill and a Sam Fish service ace. Florida battled back to knot the score
at 4-4 when Fleming served an ace, giving the Gators their first lead in the
match. Ahead 7-5, the Gators broke out with four straight points behind a pair
of Bowling Green errors and Brown ace to bring the score to 11-5. The Gators
then used four Jaeckel kills to widen the advantage to 15-7. Four
straight Bowling Green errors stretched the Gators’ lead to 12 points, bringing
the score to 22-10. From there, Florida kept rolling, easily closing out the
first set at 25-12 on a Rivers ace.

The
two teams battled evenly to open the second set, trading points to a tie at
3-3. A Rivers kill and a Bowling Green attack error put the Gators up by two at
5-3. The Falcons then rallied to even the score at 6 all behind a kill from
Kari Galen. The two teams swapped points until, at 8-8, the Gators went on a
3-0 run, highlighted by a Wiggs kill to bring the score to 11-8. From 11-9, the
Gator offense dominated, running off nine consecutive points behind two Rivers
kills and an ace from Jaeckel, widening the lead to 10 points at 19-9. Florida
then scored another five straight to close out the set at 25-11 with the help
of two Stephanie Ferrell (Los Angeles, Calif.) kills.

The
two teams traded points to begin the third set until Florida ran off three
straight behind kills from Wiggs and Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) to bring
the score to 5-2. Bowling Green took advantage of a pair of Gator errors to tie
the score at 6. The teams battled their way to another tie at 9-9 when Bledsoe
and Murphy recorded back-to-back kills to give the Gators a two-point lead at
11-9. Florida then ran off four straight points, highlighted by two Jaeckel
kills and another from Bledsoe, to widen the advantage to 15-10. The Falcons
cut the lead to 3 at 16-13 behind a Fish kill, but the Gators kept rolling to a
21-14 lead, wrapping up the final set at 25-16 with kills from Smith, Murphy
and Bledsoe.

Bowling
Green (1-4) was led by eight kills from Penrod.

Florida
returns to action on Saturday when it plays host to No. 15 Colorado State.
Opening serve is set for 4 p.m. ET in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The
match will be carried live on GatorZone.com with Tom Collett and Missy
Whittemore.

“Some
of the markers for a good defensive team are its hitting efficiency of the
opponent and the number of blocks recorded. The match ended with Bowling
Green hitting negative and us recording 12 blocks. It starts with the serve. We
had aggressive serving and that leads to some easier points to be scored. We
played a young team is just going to get better and better, but it’s tough for
them to play against Florida at home, in the O’Connell Center.”

On
playing just one match tomorrow instead of two …

“The
good news is that everyone goes into tomorrow’s match healthy. We got playing
time for all 14 healthy players and now we go into tomorrow playing a top-20
team that knows how to compete and has had big wins over the years. Two years
ago, they beat us handedly in three games in Fort Collins. We’re very lucky
that we have tomorrow to focus on Colorado State. Trying to prepare for them
with a second opponent would have been difficult. Luckily, you rarely see
tournaments where you have four matches in two days.”

#5
Callie Rivers, Sr, OH

On
playing two matches in one day …

“I
think it was a lot of fun playing two games in one day. I think it was a bit of
a challenge, but it’s good to know where we are, conditioning-wise. I
think it puts our team in great shape and we’re ready for tomorrow.”

On
having all team members compete …

“I
think we’re a really deep team. We have tons of different players who can come
in and play any position. I think everyone is dynamic in everything they can do
and I think that really helps us.”

#6
Kristy Jaeckel, Jr, OH

On
playing two matches in one day …

“It’s
something different, something most of us haven’t done since we played club.
It’s been a couple years, but we really liked it and we love every opportunity
we have to play. To play two matches in one day, some people might think that’s
challenging, but it’s something we love because we love to go out and play.”

On
playing at home …

“It
was really fun to go out and play in front of friends and family. We love being
at home and it was so fun to finally be here.”